Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Update about the anti semitic leaflets in Donetsk

In an earlier post, I reported on the Jews of Donetsk, which has been declared an 'independent republic' within the Ukraine, being forced to 'register' themselves and their property or to face forfeiture on May 3. I now have more details about those leaflets, which I received via email.

Following him, HABAD representatives also left Crimea, Rabbi
Itskhak-Meir Lifshits and his wife Lea, he says that he managed to move
out Torah scrolls from Beyt Habad in Crimea to Ukraine mainland.
(actually he used the word 'saving', if its that serious we can assume
that he believes that Beyt Habad can be vandalized so he had to move out
Torah)http://rus.newsru.ua/ukraine/21mar2014/kapustin.htmlhttp://glavnoe.ua/news/n170400

Hmmm. I used to be in touch with Rabbi Yitzchak and Leah Lipszyc (that's how it's spelled on LinkedIn and that's how I recall them spelling it) through a couple of mailing lists many years ago. When my daughter and I went to Ukraine in September, I tried to contact them via Facebook, but did not hear back from them.

But I've also heard that Chabad has been backing the Russians (that's what's been reported here in Israel) so I have asked for an explanation. I will post about this again when I hear back.

1 Comments:

Quick translation of the German-language interview: the reform rabbi has been in Simferopol since 2007. He voiced, several times, his anti-Russian-invasion opinion. He could not be a foreigner in his own land. He bid his congregation farewell on Purim, and they "showed understanding". The President of the congregation was able to lead prayers in the meantime, and communal life would go on. If Crimea was being absorbed by Russia, then his Russian rabbinic colleagues would be taking care of the Jews of Crimea. He is, for now, a refugee living in Kiev, and time would tell what the future would bring.

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I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 12 to 33 years and eight grandchildren. Three of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com